The Fastest Cure for Creative Burnout

Hello creative souls. Welcome back to the Creative Spotlight. I am so happy to have you here with me because we're going to talk about all things creative process and how to expand your skills and life as a creative.

Burnout, of course, is probably one of the things that happens to you not just as being a creative person, but as being a human. So what do we do? How do we get back on the creative bandwagon? And how do we get back to feeling good again?

Short story time: I have a lot of irons in the creative fire - a lot of creative projects going on. We have an immersive theater in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and our season just popped off. We are back on the stage on the weekends. My husband and I also work for this incredible program called Opera in the Ozarks and we do it every summer. It's a lot all together. My whole normal production and performance life continues, which is busy, and then we just add in two months of intense opera experience… and I love it so much. We get to teach movement skills, stage presence, and do choreography for their program during the summer, which just started this week. We also have four children, one whom is a three month old baby.

When we zoomed off to get to the first meeting and start production on these several opera shows, I was so overwhelmed. We were in the car on the beautiful drive through the woods to the opera, is this gorgeous new theater that's just been built. I mean, everything about it is fantastic. I love this job I have with the opera that I get to work seasonally. Nonetheless, I am crying on the way because I have just left behind my three-month old baby. He's just taking his bottle for the first time. and I'm having all the hormones and feels and I'm sitting there going, "This is too much. Maybe I should just opt out. Maybe I shouldn't do the opera this season." It was a sad thought to say because I love it so much; but I'm feeling the busyness and the pressure of all the things, and I’m also doing this blog, and all these creative projects are spinning on top of being a mom (not that you need to be a mom to understand how it feels to be spread thin), and I really was considering opting out.

We walked into the room for a staff meeting, so all of the performing artists aren't there yet. There's 30 or so people in the room, half of whom I already know. And it was instantaneous, like boom. I was filled. My heart was filled. I was filled with excitement and joy. It's not like I left my baby home alone, right? He's with grandma. He's going to be fine. But all of that trauma I was feeling kind of just went away in a five, six, seven, eight, if you will, because I was in the room with like-minded creative people.

That's the lesson I want to share today. If you are feeling burnout, specifically creative burnout, or maybe you're not immersed a creative career yet, but you're working all day at XYZ job and trying to find time to work on your creative passion otherwise. Or you're feeling burnout because you're a parent, or burnout because you're just going through a rough patch. Whatever it is, all burnout is created essentially equal, right? It's the feeling that it creates in us of overwhelm and like oh my god I want to take a big nap. It doesn't matter what your source is. The solution, I believe - not from my own personal experience, but from a lot that I have witnessed - is to get into community with creative people. Not just to get into community, not just surround yourself with some people, but to be particular about the people you're surrounding yourself with because we absorb and feel each other's energy in a deep, deep way.

The magic that happened for me walking into that opera meeting was like, "Oh my gosh, look at all these people who are so happy to be here in this gorgeous theater about ready to take on these projects." The energy was shared. We were all happy to co-create.

Now, you might be a solo creative. You might be a solo singer songwriter, a painter, jewelry maker, an author. You might inherently kind of be a soloist creative. If that's the case, I say even more, you need to get yourself in a creative community. Mine bounces back and forth because when I go into playwright mode, I'm writing a new script. It's pretty solo experience and I actually love it: I go find a nice spot out in nature and I start typing away. When I'm stuck, I lean into my husband's creative madness and he helps me get through those blocks. The creative solo time comes to an end after a month or so, however long I've been writing, and we go into rehearsal and that's where we have our team.

Right now, our theater team is nine actors and three on crew, and someone doing behind the scenes ad admin and media. That's big for our small company. It's so great because I get to go be in the room with them and it's so invigorating. We've done a great job of choosing the right people to be a part of our creative team because I need people who are showing up with a smile and enthusiasm. We do not tolerate coming in with your a woe-is-me lifestyle. That doesn't mean that if you're having a hard time, I'm not going to be compassionate toward you; but it means that when you come into our theater, it's a space of healing. It's not a space to kind of come in and bring all your baggage, it's a space to check your baggage at the door and allow yourself to be healed and lifted up. Sometimes if you come in and you're the one who's flying high, it's kind of your responsibility to help lift the others up who might be hitting a rough patch.

When I go into opera, this is a team of 40 performing artists and 30 or so staff members. It's a much bigger team than our small immersive theater, so the energy is so powerful. Within seconds, I couldn’t believe I thought about backing out of this. This is amazing! Why would I ever back out of this? The energy was so strong. Let me tell you what will happen if you feel down and you call a friend who's excellent at feeling down: things are not going to feel better. So I encourage you to get into creative community, but be really thoughtful and intentional and selective about who you're asking. It doesn't have to be a team of 13 or 70. They don't even have to be your creative cohorts. It could just be someone who gets it.

I encourage you to get in community with other creatives. Maybe you're a musician and your good friend who's got a positive attitude is an author. That's fine. It doesn't have to be the same medium, but get into a space where you can lift each other up. Maybe it's just you and one other person who you know can bring a positive energy to the picture. That is what's most important. Not their medium, but can they bring a positive energy to the picture? Otherwise they will bring you down, and then you will bring them down more, and then you will just race to the bottom. Instead I encourage you to get into a space with like-minded creatives who will naturally, without even trying, lift each other up.

I had this from my own personal experience just yesterday, having been a teacher in the dance and theater space for the last 20 years, and I have seen it happen time and time again with other people. For instance, just last night, one of our newest professional actresses was having a tough day, and she was about to call in to rehearsal and she's about to open a new show. It was like, first of all, we have higher professional expectations than that. And second of all, I know what's going to happen to you once you get into the room. I'm not trying to say I'm always right, but I was right. Right? She comes into the room and feeds off everyone’s energy, and not everyone was having a tough day. So naturally, she started to eat that positive energy and be lifted up through the creative process. So many times that happens in the world my husband and I have created, our Melonlight Theater. You will feel better walking out than you did walking in. That's true for our guests in the house, too.

We've spent years teaching amateur level students, and the same thing will happen. They've had a day, they've been at work all day, they're tired, and then they don't want to come to class. Oh man, that is the exact reason you need to come to class. You're tired, you're overwhelmed, you're stressed, you're exhausted. That's why you go, because the creative process is a healing one.

So, even if you are a solo creative, great. Good for you. I'm not saying you need to expand and go join a band; though I do encourage you to find a community of people to be with, particularly when you hit some lows. When you're not feeling grounded, find that team. Get grounded together and lift each other up. Sometimes you can find that community for free. Jump online, make some new friends, find a bunch of painters, find some musicians who do a weekly meetup, find something. I intend to build out a creative community here. Hopefully this blog has been uplifting, too. Until we build a more connected virtual community, which is on my agenda by the way, so that we can actually be on a Zoom call and see each other face to face and lift each other up, it can be virtual as long as it goes both ways. You need to hear me and I need to hear you back. So keep that in mind.

We're going to be building out a Creative Spotlight community, but in the meantime, go get in that sexy lovely flesh with somebody else. Go have a coffee with a friend who's a creative and lift each other up. That is the fastest way to get yourself through overwhelm, burnout, feeling lost, feeling stuck, feeling like you want to quit. And sometimes, yeah, it's okay to take a big nap. Sometimes we just need some extra rest, too, but take a nap and then go meet your friend for a coffee and some creative conversation.

That's a wrap, darling. Now go do your creative work.